CBI arrests CMD of Syndicate Bank, 5 others in bribery case

TActing on an internally developed intelligence, CBI had been monitoring the CMD for the last six months before arresting him on Saturday in Bangalore.

CBI filed two cases against him for allegedly receiving bribe of Rs.50 lakh and "fraudulently bypassing" rules and regulations to enhance credit limit of two companies which have been involved in a coal scam.

The CMD’s brother-in-law and a Chartered Accountant were arrested for their alleged involvement in the case. Neeraj Singhal, VC, Bushan Steel Ltd (Delhi) and Ved Prakash Agarwal and Vipul Agarwal of Prakash Industris (Delhi) were the other high-profile people whose names cropped up in the case.

Pawan Bansal, Vineet Godha, Punit Godha, Vijay Pahuja, Pursotam Lal Totlani and Pankaj Bansal were also named as accused in the case.

In a press release, the CBI alleged that in one case, the public servant was directly negotiating with a private company for an illegal gratification of Rs.50 lakhs in lieu of granting credit extension as it had defaulted on the payment of loan installments amounting to crores of rupees to the bank. The officials of the said company allegedly agreed to pay the said illegal gratification and the money was transferred to the middlemen who are also relative of the public servant.

CMD Jain was arrested from Mumbai.

Cash and gold seized

CBI sleuths conducted searches at 20 places including office and residence of the public servant and other private persons at Delhi, Bhopal, Mumbai and Bengaluru. During searches incriminating documents related to the case were recovered.